3 children of slain mom are found dead

Friend charged with killing mother, fetus

EAST ST. LOUIS — The bodies of three children found Saturday night in an apartment kitchenette are likely the missing children of a slain pregnant mother.

The grisly discovery in an East St. Louis apartment about 7 p.m. came just hours after a woman was charged with killing the mother and cutting her baby from her womb.

Police said Tiffany Hall, 24, who was charged Saturday afternoon with the murder of Jimella Tunstall, 23, and the death of her fetus, led them to the apartment complex where the children's bodies were found.

Hall, a mother of two, is being held in lieu of $5 million bail. Tunstall family members said the two women were close friends.

The apartment complex where the children's bodies were found was the last-known address for Tunstall, who was seven months pregnant. Her body was discovered Thursday not far from the complex.

Since police learned Hall was the last person seen with Tunstall's children on Monday, a far-reaching search was on for the children--Demond, 7, Ivan, 2, and Jinela, 1.

Police had been to the John DeShields public housing complex in the south end of East St. Louis--where Tunstall lived--earlier when they were searching for Hall, but did not discover the children, said East St. Louis Police Chief James Mister. At the time, police didn't know the children were missing, he said.

The causes of death of the children weren't known Saturday, police said. Autopsies are planned for 9 a.m. Sunday.

The bizarre murder and search for the children engulfed police and the community.

"Our hearts go out to the family and friends," said Illinois State Police Capt. Craig Koehler, before hesitating as he teared up at a late Saturday news conference. "It's been kind of an emotional evening."

LaDonna Tunstall, stepmother of Tunstall, was at the brick complex as the coroner's office removed the three bodies about 9:10 p.m.

"I'm just glad we can move forward," she said. "I hate the fact the kids are dead. At least they're at peace and with their mom."

"I love my cousins. I'm so hurt right now. I loved them so much," said Krystal Pickett, a cousin of Tunstall's children. "Jinela, she was the sweetest thing you could ever love."

A Tunstall family member said the two single moms went to the same schools since kindergarten, and, as adults, took their children out together for meals and called each other "cousins."

On Friday and earlier Saturday, police agencies searched in lakes and parks in East St. Louis and nearby Washington Park, and church volunteers passed out fliers and checked garbage cans and brushy areas around Tunstall's and Hall's past residences and local parks.

Police declined to discuss Hall's alleged motive or details of what she said to authorities about Tunstall. Hall has been in police custody since Friday.

The bizarre case began Sept. 15.

Authorities said Hall had claimed that she gave birth to a stillborn, but after a funeral for the child on Thursday told a boyfriend that she killed Tunstall and had taken her baby.

The boyfriend called authorities, who then found Tunstall's body in a vacant lot next to Hall's home. Tunstall had been dragged to a brushy area, authorities said Saturday.

A coroner's examination determined she died of incision wounds to her abdomen. A pair of scissors allegedly was found in the home, the coroner said.

The two women raised their children since they were teenagers, pushing for a better life and yet sometimes falling prey to their own demons, friends and family members said.

Tunstall loved her children, spoiling them, letting them sit on her lap for hours, her aunt Lovie White said. "She's got that smile, that glow, just like a little baby."

Tunstall's life was not perfect, family members said. She spent some time in foster homes, and had trouble with money and past boyfriends, and once lost custody of her children.

"That was all in the past," White said. "She was trying to do right by [her children]."

White said her niece had started taking classes at a community college, and had been excited about the new baby, a girl. A baby shower had been planned for Saturday.

Neighbors said Hall was a quiet woman who mostly kept to herself. White called her a "good person."

Hall had lost custody in 1999 of her two young daughters after allegations she abused them were deemed substantiated, according to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. She regained custody of them in 2002.